Cash-for-bitcoins: World’s first palm scan-activated bitcoin ATM to open in Canada

The world’s first bitcoin ATM will open in Vancouver, Canada, next week – dispensing Canadian dollars in exchange for the anonymous crypto-currency. But only if your palm scan matches the ATM’s records, that is.

The machine will be set up near downtown Vancouver coffee house
Waves, is one of five ATMs bought by Canadian firm Bitcoiniacs
from Nevada-based producer Robocoin.

The machine will exchange bitcoins for Canadian dollars via
Canada’s VirtEx exchange. The transactions themselves will be
anonymous, the vendor says, but clients will have to identify
themselves via a palm scanner first.

This is done to enforce Canadian anti-money laundering laws, due
to which the ATM will only allow transactions of up to 3,000
Canadian dollars (around $2,700) per day per customer.

The four other ATMs will be rolled out in Canadian cities such as
Toronto, Montreal, Calgary or Ottawa in December, the company
says.

"Basically, it just makes it easier for people to buy and sell
bitcoins," Mitchell Demeter, founder of Bitcoiniacs and
co-owner of Robocoin, told CBC.

Bitcoin is an internet-based currency designed to exist without
any centralized regulatory authority. New Bitcoins are generated
by spending computer processing time to conduct complex
calculations, and the process is limited by a maximum of about 21
million bitcoins that can exist.

The currency has long been a fad among online privacy activists,
financial futurists and shady dealers, but is so far little known
to the general public. It lately hit the headlines after the FBI
bust of the Silk Road website that US authorities say facilitated
the trade in illegal goods and services, from drugs to
assassinations.